Interest groups based on network feed items

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are some examples of systems, apparatus, methods and storage media for creating groups in a social networking database system, and more specifically, to creating groups based on network feed items. In some implementations, a database system is capable of maintaining a database including data associated with a plurality of users and groups to which the users can be subscribed. The system is configurable to provide a feed for display to a first user, and to receive input entered in a publication field by the first user. The system is configurable to create a feed item for display to the first user and to at least one second user based on the received input. The system is configurable to receive second input associated with the feed item from the second user. The system is additionally configurable to provide a selectable user interface (UI) element for display to the first user. Responsive to the selection of the UI element, the system is further configurable to create a new group based on the feed item, and to subscribe the first and the second user to the new group without additional input.

PRIORITY DATA

This patent document is a continuation of and claims priority toco-pending and commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/629,850, titled “Interest Groups Based On Network Feed Items”, byAshok Gadamsetty, filed Feb. 24, 2015 (Attorney Docket No.SLFCP181/1478US), which is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety and for all purposes.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the United States Patent andTrademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves allcopyright rights whatsoever.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This patent document relates generally to creating groups in a socialnetworking database system, and more specifically, to creating groupsbased on network feed items.

BACKGROUND

“Cloud computing” services provide shared resources, software, andinformation to computers and other devices upon request or on demand.Cloud computing typically involves the over-the-Internet provision ofdynamically-scalable and often virtualized resources. Technologicaldetails can be abstracted from end-users, who no longer have need forexpertise in, or control over, the technology infrastructure “in thecloud” that supports them. In cloud computing environments, softwareapplications can be accessible over the Internet rather than installedlocally on personal or in-house computer systems. Some of theapplications or on-demand services provided to end-users can include theability for a user to create, view, modify, store and share documentsand other files.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The included drawings are for illustrative purposes and serve to provideexamples of possible structures and operations for the disclosedinventive systems, apparatus, methods and computer-readable storagemedia. These drawings in no way limit any changes in form and detailthat may be made by one skilled in the art without departing from thespirit and scope of the disclosed implementations.

FIG. 1A shows a block diagram of an example environment in which anon-demand database service can be used according to someimplementations.

FIG. 1B shows a block diagram of example implementations of elements ofFIG. 1A and example interconnections between these elements according tosome implementations.

FIG. 2A shows a system diagram of example architectural components of anon-demand database service environment according to someimplementations.

FIG. 2B shows a system diagram further illustrating examplearchitectural components of an on-demand database service environmentaccording to some implementations.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a web interface for a group page including agroup feed for interacting with members of the group in an enterprisesocial network according to some implementations.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a web interface for a record page including arecord feed for interacting with followers of the record in anenterprise social network according to some implementations.

FIG. 5 shows a flow chart illustrating a process for creating aninterest group according to some implementations.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a web interface for a user page including auser feed for interacting with other users of an enterprise socialnetwork according to some implementations.

FIG. 7 shows an example feed item in an example network feed accordingto some implementations.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a web interface for an interest group pageincluding a group feed for interacting with members of the interestgroup according to some implementations.

FIG. 9 shows a flow chart illustrating a process for suggesting aninterest group according to some implementations.

FIG. 10 shows an example of a web interface for a user page including auser feed for interacting with other users of an enterprise socialnetwork according to some implementations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Examples of systems, apparatus, computer-readable storage media, andmethods according to the disclosed implementations are described in thissection. These examples are being provided solely to add context and aidin the understanding of the disclosed implementations. It will thus beapparent to one skilled in the art that the disclosed implementationsmay be practiced without some or all of the specific details provided.In other instances, certain process or method operations, also referredto herein as “blocks,” have not been described in detail in order toavoid unnecessarily obscuring the disclosed implementations. Otherimplementations and applications also are possible, and as such, thefollowing examples should not be taken as definitive or limiting eitherin scope or setting.

In the following detailed description, references are made to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part of the description and in whichare shown, by way of illustration, specific implementations. Althoughthese disclosed implementations are described in sufficient detail toenable one skilled in the art to practice the implementations, it is tobe understood that these examples are not limiting, such that otherimplementations may be used and changes may be made to the disclosedimplementations without departing from their spirit and scope. Forexample, the blocks of the methods shown and described herein are notnecessarily performed in the order indicated in some otherimplementations. Additionally, in some other implementations, thedisclosed methods may include more or fewer blocks than are described.As another example, some blocks described herein as separate blocks maybe combined in some other implementations. Conversely, what may bedescribed herein as a single block may be implemented in multiple blocksin some other implementations. Additionally, the conjunction “or” isintended herein in the inclusive sense where appropriate unlessotherwise indicated; for example, the phrase “A, B or C” is intended toinclude the possibilities of “A,” “B,” “C,” “A and B,” “B and C,” “A andC” and “A, B and C.”

Some implementations described and referenced herein are directed todatabase systems, computer-implemented methods and computer-readablestorage media for enterprise social networking, and more specifically,for creating an interest group based on a network feed item. Someimplementations more specifically relate to creating an interest groupbased on published content in a feed item and based on interactions withthe feed item by other users. When a user submits a publication to anetwork feed, such as a user feed, group feed or record feed, thepublication is stored by the database system as a feed item. Thepublication can include user-entered textual content, and in someimplementations, an associated file. After the publication is submittedto a feed, other users subscribing or having access to that feed mayshare the publication, comment on the publication, like the publication,or otherwise interact with or express an interest in the publication. Invarious implementations, the publishing user can create a dynamicinterest group (also referred to herein more simply as an “interestgroup”) pertaining to the feed item, and more specifically, to thecontent of the publication for which the feed item was created. Forexample, in some implementations the publishing user can create theinterest group by clicking or otherwise selecting a graphical UI elementsuch as a virtual button or link displayed within or in proximity to thefeed item that contains the publication.

In some implementations, a database system automatically subscribes thepublishing user and other interested users to the interest group. Insome implementations, the database system identifies the interestedusers by determining which users commented on the publication or onother comments within the feed item, which users liked the publicationor comments within the feed item, and which users shared the feed itemto other feeds associated with other users, groups or records. In someimplementations, the database system also identifies as interested usersthose users who have been referenced in the feed item or otherwisetargeted to receive the corresponding publication. For example, thedatabase system can identify as interested users those users who havebeen @-mentioned in the publication or in submitted comments within thefeed item. The publishing user and the users who shared the publication,commented on the publication, liked the publication or who werereferenced in the publication all can be characterized as having aninterest in the publication, and as such, also are collectively referredto herein as “interested users.”

Consider the following use case scenario. Suppose a user of a databasesystem is encountering a problem (or “issue”) with a tool. For example,the user can be a customer of, or an employee of an organization that isa customer of, the database system. The tool can be, for example, acloud-based software tool provided by the database system over a networkfor use by the user at the user's computing device. One example of acloud-based tool is a Java™-based tool. One example of a problem thatcan occur with a Java™-based tool is a Java™ configuration problem. Asanother example, the tool can be a non-cloud-based software tool storedin and executable by the user's computer device or by another computingdevice or system the user uses. As another example, the tool can be ahardware tool such as the user's computing device or other equipment orsystem used by the user.

Suppose that the user desires to seek help in solving the problem withthe tool. In many instances, other users within the user's organizationhave encountered, are encountering, or will encounter the same or asimilar problem as the user currently seeking help with the problem. Inmany scenarios, other users of the database system know a solution tothe problem and can help the user solve the problem. These other userscan include other users who have encountered the problem and have solvedthe problem, or other users that have encountered the problem and knowof someone else who can solve the problem. The other users also can bespecialized users responsible for solving such problems, such astechnical support specialists within the user's organization or externalto the organization (for example, employees or contractors of theorganization that maintains the multi-tenant database system). However,often the user does not know the other users that can help with theproblem or how to contact them. The user encountering the problem canpost information about the problem to various groups the user subscribesto, for example, in the form of posts submitted to the groups'respective news feeds. But the other users in these groups may not knowhow to solve the problem or whom to contact to find help with theproblem. The user encountering the problem can also send emails directlyto other users or technical support specialists but, again, the userencountering the problem often does not know the email addresses of theother users who can solve the problem or find help with the problem.

In one example use case, a user encountering and seeking a solution to aproblem submits a publication about the problem to the user's user feed,a group feed, a record feed or to multiple feeds. For example, the usermay submit the publication about the problem to the user's own user feedas well as to one or more feeds corresponding to groups or recordshaving subscribers that may have an interest in the problem or itssolution. For example, the publishing user may submit the publication toa feed of a group of users who are already collaborating with thepublishing user for various purposes.

In some instances, some of the users subscribed to the publishing user,or to the respective groups or records to which the publication wassubmitted, may be facing the same problem. In some instances, some ofthe users may have attempted to solve the problem, actually solved theproblem (or a similar problem) or can identify someone else who cansolve the problem. In some such scenarios, the other users viewing thefeed item may submit comments to the publication or to other commentsalready made on the publication in the feed item including specificinformation about their attempts to solve the problem, the results(whether successful or unsuccessful) of such attempts, and solutionsdetermined for the problem or similar problems.

In some implementations, the publishing user or one of other interestedusers that interacted with the feed item can create an interest groupbased on the feed item by selected a virtual button or link within or inproximity to the feed item. Upon selection of the virtual button orlink, the database system creates an interest group based on the feeditem and automatically subscribes the interested user who interactedwith the feed item to the newly created interest group.

The subscribers can now collaborate on the problem using the newinterest group dedicated to the problem. Additionally, other users whomay be encountering, or who will encounter, the same or a similarproblem also may find and view the interest group to find the solutionto their own problem.

In some implementations, the customers, employees or other usersdescribed herein are users (or “members”) of an interactive online“enterprise social network,” also referred to herein as a “socialnetworking system,” an “enterprise social networking system,” an“enterprise collaborative network,” or more simply as an “enterprisenetwork.” Such online enterprise networks are increasingly becoming acommon way to facilitate communication among people, any of whom can berecognized as enterprise users. One example of an online enterprisesocial network is Chatter®, provided by salesforce.com, inc. of SanFrancisco, Calif. salesforce.com, inc. is a provider of enterprisesocial networking services, customer relationship management (CRM)services and other database management services, any of which can beaccessed and used in conjunction with the techniques disclosed herein insome implementations. These various services can be provided in a cloudcomputing environment as described herein, for example, in the contextof a multi-tenant database system. Some of the described techniques orprocesses can be implemented without having to install software locally,that is, on computing devices of users interacting with servicesavailable through the cloud. While the disclosed implementations may bedescribed with reference to Chatter® and more generally to enterprisesocial networking, those of ordinary skill in the art should understandthat the disclosed techniques are neither limited to Chatter® nor to anyother services and systems provided by salesforce.com, inc. and can beimplemented in the context of various other database systems such ascloud-based systems that are not part of a multi-tenant database systemor which do not provide enterprise social networking services.

I. Example System Overview

FIG. 1A shows a block diagram of an example of an environment 10 inwhich an on-demand database service can be used in accordance with someimplementations. The environment 10 includes user systems 12, a network14, a database system 16 (also referred to herein as a “cloud-basedsystem”), a processor system 17, an application platform 18, a networkinterface 20, tenant database 22 for storing tenant data 23, systemdatabase 24 for storing system data 25, program code 26 for implementingvarious functions of the system 16, and process space 28 for executingdatabase system processes and tenant-specific processes, such as runningapplications as part of an application hosting service. In some otherimplementations, environment 10 may not have all of these components orsystems, or may have other components or systems instead of, or inaddition to, those listed above.

In some implementations, the environment 10 is an environment in whichan on-demand database service exists. An on-demand database service,such as that which can be implemented using the system 16, is a servicethat is made available to users outside of the enterprise(s) that own,maintain or provide access to the system 16. As described above, suchusers generally do not need to be concerned with building or maintainingthe system 16. Instead, resources provided by the system 16 may beavailable for such users' use when the users need services provided bythe system 16; that is, on the demand of the users. Some on-demanddatabase services can store information from one or more tenants intotables of a common database image to form a multi-tenant database system(MTS). The term “multi-tenant database system” can refer to thosesystems in which various elements of hardware and software of a databasesystem may be shared by one or more customers or tenants. For example, agiven application server may simultaneously process requests for a greatnumber of customers, and a given database table may store rows of datasuch as feed items for a potentially much greater number of customers. Adatabase image can include one or more database objects. A relationaldatabase management system (RDBMS) or the equivalent can execute storageand retrieval of information against the database object(s).

Application platform 18 can be a framework that allows the applicationsof system 16 to execute, such as the hardware or software infrastructureof the system 16. In some implementations, the application platform 18enables the creation, management and execution of one or moreapplications developed by the provider of the on-demand databaseservice, users accessing the on-demand database service via user systems12, or third party application developers accessing the on-demanddatabase service via user systems 12.

In some implementations, the system 16 implements a web-based customerrelationship management (CRM) system. For example, in some suchimplementations, the system 16 includes application servers configuredto implement and execute CRM software applications as well as providerelated data, code, forms, renderable web pages and documents and otherinformation to and from user systems 12 and to store to, and retrievefrom, a database system related data, objects, and Web page content. Insome MTS implementations, data for multiple tenants may be stored in thesame physical database object in tenant database 22. In some suchimplementations, tenant data is arranged in the storage medium(s) oftenant database 22 so that data of one tenant is kept logically separatefrom that of other tenants so that one tenant does not have access toanother tenant's data, unless such data is expressly shared. The system16 also implements applications other than, or in addition to, a CRMapplication. For example, the system 16 can provide tenant access tomultiple hosted (standard and custom) applications, including a CRMapplication. User (or third party developer) applications, which may ormay not include CRM, may be supported by the application platform 18.The application platform 18 manages the creation and storage of theapplications into one or more database objects and the execution of theapplications in one or more virtual machines in the process space of thesystem 16.

According to some implementations, each system 16 is configured toprovide web pages, forms, applications, data and media content to user(client) systems 12 to support the access by user systems 12 as tenantsof system 16. As such, system 16 provides security mechanisms to keepeach tenant's data separate unless the data is shared. If more than oneMTS is used, they may be located in close proximity to one another (forexample, in a server farm located in a single building or campus), orthey may be distributed at locations remote from one another (forexample, one or more servers located in city A and one or more serverslocated in city B). As used herein, each MTS could include one or morelogically or physically connected servers distributed locally or acrossone or more geographic locations. Additionally, the term “server” ismeant to refer to a computing device or system, including processinghardware and process space(s), an associated storage medium such as amemory device or database, and, in some instances, a databaseapplication (for example, OODBMS or RDBMS) as is well known in the art.It should also be understood that “server system” and “server” are oftenused interchangeably herein. Similarly, the database objects describedherein can be implemented as part of a single database, a distributeddatabase, a collection of distributed databases, a database withredundant online or offline backups or other redundancies, etc., and caninclude a distributed database or storage network and associatedprocessing intelligence.

The network 14 can be or include any network or combination of networksof systems or devices that communicate with one another. For example,the network 14 can be or include any one or any combination of a LAN(local area network), WAN (wide area network), telephone network,wireless network, cellular network, point-to-point network, starnetwork, token ring network, hub network, or other appropriateconfiguration. The network 14 can include a TCP/IP (Transfer ControlProtocol and Internet Protocol) network, such as the global internetworkof networks often referred to as the “Internet” (with a capital “I”).The Internet will be used in many of the examples herein. However, itshould be understood that the networks that the disclosedimplementations can use are not so limited, although TCP/IP is afrequently implemented protocol.

The user systems 12 can communicate with system 16 using TCP/IP and, ata higher network level, other common Internet protocols to communicate,such as HTTP, FTP, AFS, WAP, etc. In an example where HTTP is used, eachuser system 12 can include an HTTP client commonly referred to as a “webbrowser” or simply a “browser” for sending and receiving HTTP signals toand from an HTTP server of the system 16. Such an HTTP server can beimplemented as the sole network interface 20 between the system 16 andthe network 14, but other techniques can be used in addition to orinstead of these techniques. In some implementations, the networkinterface 20 between the system 16 and the network 14 includes loadsharing functionality, such as round-robin HTTP request distributors tobalance loads and distribute incoming HTTP requests evenly over a numberof servers. In MTS implementations, each of the servers can have accessto the MTS data; however, other alternative configurations may be usedinstead.

The user systems 12 can be implemented as any computing device(s) orother data processing apparatus or systems usable by users to access thedatabase system 16. For example, any of user systems 12 can be a desktopcomputer, a work station, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, ahandheld computing device, a mobile cellular phone (for example, a“smartphone”), or any other Wi-Fi-enabled device, wireless accessprotocol (WAP)-enabled device, or other computing device capable ofinterfacing directly or indirectly to the Internet or other network. Theterms “user system” and “computing device” are used interchangeablyherein with one another and with the term “computer.” As describedabove, each user system 12 typically executes an HTTP client, forexample, a web browsing (or simply “browsing”) program, such as a webbrowser based on the WebKit platform, Microsoft's Internet Explorerbrowser, Netscape's Navigator browser, Opera's browser, Mozilla'sFirefox browser, or a WAP-enabled browser in the case of a cellularphone, PDA or other wireless device, or the like, allowing a user (forexample, a subscriber of on-demand services provided by the system 16)of the user system 12 to access, process and view information, pages andapplications available to it from the system 16 over the network 14.

Each user system 12 also typically includes one or more user inputdevices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, a trackball, a touch pad, a touchscreen, a pen or stylus or the like, for interacting with a graphicaluser interface (GUI) provided by the browser on a display (for example,a monitor screen, liquid crystal display (LCD), light-emitting diode(LED) display, among other possibilities) of the user system 12 inconjunction with pages, forms, applications and other informationprovided by the system 16 or other systems or servers. For example, theuser interface device can be used to access data and applications hostedby system 16, and to perform searches on stored data, and otherwiseallow a user to interact with various GUI pages that may be presented toa user. As discussed above, implementations are suitable for use withthe Internet, although other networks can be used instead of or inaddition to the Internet, such as an intranet, an extranet, a virtualprivate network (VPN), a non-TCP/IP based network, any LAN or WAN or thelike.

The users of user systems 12 may differ in their respective capacities,and the capacity of a particular user system 12 can be entirelydetermined by permissions (permission levels) for the current user ofsuch user system. For example, where a salesperson is using a particularuser system 12 to interact with the system 16, that user system can havethe capacities allotted to the salesperson. However, while anadministrator is using that user system 12 to interact with the system16, that user system can have the capacities allotted to thatadministrator. Where a hierarchical role model is used, users at onepermission level can have access to applications, data, and databaseinformation accessible by a lower permission level user, but may nothave access to certain applications, database information, and dataaccessible by a user at a higher permission level. Thus, different usersgenerally will have different capabilities with regard to accessing andmodifying application and database information, depending on the users'respective security or permission levels (also referred to as“authorizations”).

According to some implementations, each user system 12 and some or allof its components are operator-configurable using applications, such asa browser, including computer code executed using a central processingunit (CPU) such as an Intel Pentium® processor or the like. Similarly,the system 16 (and additional instances of an MTS, where more than oneis present) and all of its components can be operator-configurable usingapplication(s) including computer code to run using the processor system17, which may be implemented to include a CPU, which may include anIntel Pentium® processor or the like, or multiple CPUs.

The system 16 includes tangible computer-readable media havingnon-transitory instructions stored thereon/in that are executable by orused to program a server or other computing system (or collection ofsuch servers or computing systems) to perform some of the implementationof processes described herein. For example, computer program code 26 canimplement instructions for operating and configuring the system 16 tointercommunicate and to process web pages, applications and other dataand media content as described herein. In some implementations, thecomputer code 26 can be downloadable and stored on a hard disk, but theentire program code, or portions thereof, also can be stored in anyother volatile or non-volatile memory medium or device as is well known,such as a ROM or RAM, or provided on any media capable of storingprogram code, such as any type of rotating media including floppy disks,optical discs, digital versatile disks (DVD), compact disks (CD),microdrives, and magneto-optical disks, and magnetic or optical cards,nanosystems (including molecular memory ICs), or any other type ofcomputer-readable medium or device suitable for storing instructions ordata. Additionally, the entire program code, or portions thereof, may betransmitted and downloaded from a software source over a transmissionmedium, for example, over the Internet, or from another server, as iswell known, or transmitted over any other existing network connection asis well known (for example, extranet, VPN, LAN, etc.) using anycommunication medium and protocols (for example, TCP/IP, HTTP, HTTPS,Ethernet, etc.) as are well known. It will also be appreciated thatcomputer code for the disclosed implementations can be realized in anyprogramming language that can be executed on a server or other computingsystem such as, for example, C, C++, HTML, any other markup language,Java™, JavaScript, ActiveX, any other scripting language, such asVBScript, and many other programming languages as are well known may beused. (Java™ is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.).

FIG. 1B shows a block diagram of example implementations of elements ofFIG. 1A and example interconnections between these elements according tosome implementations. That is, FIG. 1B also illustrates environment 10,but FIG. 1B, various elements of the system 16 and variousinterconnections between such elements are shown with more specificityaccording to some more specific implementations. Additionally, in FIG.1B, the user system 12 includes a processor system 12A, a memory system12B, an input system 12C, and an output system 12D. The processor system12A can include any suitable combination of one or more processors. Thememory system 12B can include any suitable combination of one or morememory devices. The input system 12C can include any suitablecombination of input devices, such as one or more touchscreeninterfaces, keyboards, mice, trackballs, scanners, cameras, orinterfaces to networks. The output system 12D can include any suitablecombination of output devices, such as one or more display devices,printers, or interfaces to networks.

In FIG. 1B, the network interface 20 is implemented as a set of HTTPapplication (or “app”) servers 100 ₁-100 _(N). Each of the applicationservers 100 ₁-100 _(N) (also referred to collectively herein as “theapplication server 100”) is configured to communicate with tenantdatabase 22 and the tenant data 23 therein, as well as system database24 and the system data 25 therein, to serve requests received from theuser systems 12. The tenant data 23 can be divided into individualtenant storage spaces 112, which can be physically or logically arrangedor divided. Within each tenant storage space 112, user storage 114 andapplication metadata 116 can similarly be allocated for each user. Forexample, a copy of a user's most recently used (MRU) items can be storedto user storage 114. Similarly, a copy of MRU items for an entireorganization that is a tenant can be stored to tenant storage space 112.

The process space 28 includes system process space 102, individualtenant process spaces 104 and a tenant management process space 110. Theapplication platform 18 includes an application setup mechanism 38 thatsupports application developers' creation and management ofapplications. Such applications and others can be saved as metadata intotenant database 22 by save routines 36 for execution by subscribers asone or more tenant process spaces 104 managed by tenant managementprocess 110, for example. Invocations to such applications can be codedusing PL/SOQL 34, which provides a programming language style interfaceextension to API 32. A detailed description of some PL/SOQL languageimplementations is discussed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No.7,730,478, titled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ALLOWING ACCESS TO DEVELOPEDAPPLICATIONS VIA A MULTI-TENANT ON-DEMAND DATABASE SERVICE, by CraigWeissman, issued on Jun. 1, 2010, and hereby incorporated by referencein its entirety and for all purposes. Invocations to applications can bedetected by one or more system processes, which manage retrievingapplication metadata 116 for the subscriber making the invocation andexecuting the metadata as an application in a virtual machine.

The system 16 of FIG. 1B also includes a user interface (UI) 30 and anapplication programming interface (API) 32 to system 16 residentprocesses to users or developers at user systems 12. In some otherimplementations, the environment 10 may not have the same elements asthose listed above or may have other elements instead of, or in additionto, those listed above.

Each application server 100 can be communicably coupled with tenantdatabase 22 and system database 24, for example, having access to tenantdata 23 and system data 25, respectively, via a different networkconnection. For example, one application server 100 ₁ can be coupled viathe network 14 (for example, the Internet), another application server100 _(N-1) can be coupled via a direct network link, and anotherapplication server 100 _(N) can be coupled by yet a different networkconnection. Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) areexamples of typical protocols that can be used for communicating betweenapplication servers 100 and the system 16. However, it will be apparentto one skilled in the art that other transport protocols can be used tooptimize the system 16 depending on the network interconnections used.

In some implementations, each application server 100 is configured tohandle requests for any user associated with any organization that is atenant of the system 16. Because it can be desirable to be able to addand remove application servers 100 from the server pool at any time andfor various reasons, in some implementations there is no server affinityfor a user or organization to a specific application server 100. In somesuch implementations, an interface system implementing a load balancingfunction (for example, an F5 Big-IP load balancer) is communicablycoupled between the application servers 100 and the user systems 12 todistribute requests to the application servers 100. In oneimplementation, the load balancer uses a least-connections algorithm toroute user requests to the application servers 100. Other examples ofload balancing algorithms, such as round robin andobserved-response-time, also can be used. For example, in someinstances, three consecutive requests from the same user could hit threedifferent application servers 100, and three requests from differentusers could hit the same application server 100. In this manner, by wayof example, system 16 can be a multi-tenant system in which system 16handles storage of, and access to, different objects, data andapplications across disparate users and organizations.

In one example storage use case, one tenant can be a company thatemploys a sales force where each salesperson uses system 16 to manageaspects of their sales. A user can maintain contact data, leads data,customer follow-up data, performance data, goals and progress data,etc., all applicable to that user's personal sales process (for example,in tenant database 22). In an example of a MTS arrangement, because allof the data and the applications to access, view, modify, report,transmit, calculate, etc., can be maintained and accessed by a usersystem 12 having little more than network access, the user can managehis or her sales efforts and cycles from any of many different usersystems. For example, when a salesperson is visiting a customer and thecustomer has Internet access in their lobby, the salesperson can obtaincritical updates regarding that customer while waiting for the customerto arrive in the lobby.

While each user's data can be stored separately from other users' dataregardless of the employers of each user, some data can beorganization-wide data shared or accessible by several users or all ofthe users for a given organization that is a tenant. Thus, there can besome data structures managed by system 16 that are allocated at thetenant level while other data structures can be managed at the userlevel. Because an MTS can support multiple tenants including possiblecompetitors, the MTS can have security protocols that keep data,applications, and application use separate. Also, because many tenantsmay opt for access to an MTS rather than maintain their own system,redundancy, up-time, and backup are additional functions that can beimplemented in the MTS. In addition to user-specific data andtenant-specific data, the system 16 also can maintain system level datausable by multiple tenants or other data. Such system level data caninclude industry reports, news, postings, and the like that are sharableamong tenants.

In some implementations, the user systems 12 (which also can be clientsystems) communicate with the application servers 100 to request andupdate system-level and tenant-level data from the system 16. Suchrequests and updates can involve sending one or more queries to tenantdatabase 22 or system database 24. The system 16 (for example, anapplication server 100 in the system 16) can automatically generate oneor more SQL statements (for example, one or more SQL queries) designedto access the desired information. System database 24 can generate queryplans to access the requested data from the database. The term “queryplan” generally refers to one or more operations used to accessinformation in a database system.

Each database can generally be viewed as a collection of objects, suchas a set of logical tables, containing data fitted into predefined orcustomizable categories. A “table” is one representation of a dataobject, and may be used herein to simplify the conceptual description ofobjects and custom objects according to some implementations. It shouldbe understood that “table” and “object” may be used interchangeablyherein. Each table generally contains one or more data categorieslogically arranged as columns or fields in a viewable schema. Each rowor element of a table can contain an instance of data for each categorydefined by the fields. For example, a CRM database can include a tablethat describes a customer with fields for basic contact information suchas name, address, phone number, fax number, etc. Another table candescribe a purchase order, including fields for information such ascustomer, product, sale price, date, etc. In some MTS implementations,standard entity tables can be provided for use by all tenants. For CRMdatabase applications, such standard entities can include tables forcase, account, contact, lead, and opportunity data objects, eachcontaining pre-defined fields. As used herein, the term “entity” alsomay be used interchangeably with “object” and “table.”

In some MTS implementations, tenants are allowed to create and storecustom objects, or may be allowed to customize standard entities orobjects, for example by creating custom fields for standard objects,including custom index fields. Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No.7,779,039, titled CUSTOM ENTITIES AND FIELDS IN A MULTI-TENANT DATABASESYSTEM, by Weissman et al., issued on Aug. 17, 2010, and herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety and for all purposes, teachessystems and methods for creating custom objects as well as customizingstandard objects in a multi-tenant database system. In someimplementations, for example, all custom entity data rows are stored ina single multi-tenant physical table, which may contain multiple logicaltables per organization. It is transparent to customers that theirmultiple “tables” are in fact stored in one large table or that theirdata may be stored in the same table as the data of other customers.

FIG. 2A shows a system diagram illustrating example architecturalcomponents of an on-demand database service environment 200 according tosome implementations. A client machine communicably connected with thecloud 204, generally referring to one or more networks in combination,as described herein, can communicate with the on-demand database serviceenvironment 200 via one or more edge routers 208 and 212. A clientmachine can be any of the examples of user systems 12 described above.The edge routers can communicate with one or more core switches 220 and224 through a firewall 216. The core switches can communicate with aload balancer 228, which can distribute server load over different pods,such as the pods 240 and 244. The pods 240 and 244, which can eachinclude one or more servers or other computing resources, can performdata processing and other operations used to provide on-demand services.Communication with the pods can be conducted via pod switches 232 and236. Components of the on-demand database service environment cancommunicate with database storage 256 through a database firewall 248and a database switch 252.

As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, accessing an on-demand database serviceenvironment can involve communications transmitted among a variety ofdifferent hardware or software components. Further, the on-demanddatabase service environment 200 is a simplified representation of anactual on-demand database service environment. For example, while onlyone or two devices of each type are shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, someimplementations of an on-demand database service environment can includeanywhere from one to several devices of each type. Also, the on-demanddatabase service environment need not include each device shown in FIGS.2A and 2B, or can include additional devices not shown in FIGS. 2A and2B.

Additionally, it should be appreciated that one or more of the devicesin the on-demand database service environment 200 can be implemented onthe same physical device or on different hardware. Some devices can beimplemented using hardware or a combination of hardware and software.Thus, terms such as “data processing apparatus,” “machine,” “server” and“device” as used herein are not limited to a single hardware device,rather references to these terms can include any suitable combination ofhardware and software configured to provide the described functionality.

The cloud 204 is intended to refer to a data network or multiple datanetworks, often including the Internet. Client machines communicablyconnected with the cloud 204 can communicate with other components ofthe on-demand database service environment 200 to access servicesprovided by the on-demand database service environment. For example,client machines can access the on-demand database service environment toretrieve, store, edit, or process information. In some implementations,the edge routers 208 and 212 route packets between the cloud 204 andother components of the on-demand database service environment 200. Forexample, the edge routers 208 and 212 can employ the Border GatewayProtocol (BGP). The BGP is the core routing protocol of the Internet.The edge routers 208 and 212 can maintain a table of IP networks or‘prefixes’, which designate network reachability among autonomoussystems on the Internet.

In some implementations, the firewall 216 can protect the innercomponents of the on-demand database service environment 200 fromInternet traffic. The firewall 216 can block, permit, or deny access tothe inner components of the on-demand database service environment 200based upon a set of rules and other criteria. The firewall 216 can actas one or more of a packet filter, an application gateway, a statefulfilter, a proxy server, or any other type of firewall.

In some implementations, the core switches 220 and 224 are high-capacityswitches that transfer packets within the on-demand database serviceenvironment 200. The core switches 220 and 224 can be configured asnetwork bridges that quickly route data between different componentswithin the on-demand database service environment. In someimplementations, the use of two or more core switches 220 and 224 canprovide redundancy or reduced latency.

In some implementations, the pods 240 and 244 perform the core dataprocessing and service functions provided by the on-demand databaseservice environment. Each pod can include various types of hardware orsoftware computing resources. An example of the pod architecture isdiscussed in greater detail with reference to FIG. 2B. In someimplementations, communication between the pods 240 and 244 is conductedvia the pod switches 232 and 236. The pod switches 232 and 236 canfacilitate communication between the pods 240 and 244 and clientmachines communicably connected with the cloud 204, for example via coreswitches 220 and 224. Also, the pod switches 232 and 236 may facilitatecommunication between the pods 240 and 244 and the database storage 256.In some implementations, the load balancer 228 can distribute workloadbetween the pods 240 and 244. Balancing the on-demand service requestsbetween the pods can assist in improving the use of resources,increasing throughput, reducing response times, or reducing overhead.The load balancer 228 may include multilayer switches to analyze andforward traffic.

In some implementations, access to the database storage 256 is guardedby a database firewall 248. The database firewall 248 can act as acomputer application firewall operating at the database applicationlayer of a protocol stack. The database firewall 248 can protect thedatabase storage 256 from application attacks such as structure querylanguage (SQL) injection, database rootkits, and unauthorizedinformation disclosure. In some implementations, the database firewall248 includes a host using one or more forms of reverse proxy services toproxy traffic before passing it to a gateway router. The databasefirewall 248 can inspect the contents of database traffic and blockcertain content or database requests. The database firewall 248 can workon the SQL application level atop the TCP/IP stack, managingapplications' connection to the database or SQL management interfaces aswell as intercepting and enforcing packets traveling to or from adatabase network or application interface.

In some implementations, communication with the database storage 256 isconducted via the database switch 252. The multi-tenant database storage256 can include more than one hardware or software components forhandling database queries. Accordingly, the database switch 252 candirect database queries transmitted by other components of the on-demanddatabase service environment (for example, the pods 240 and 244) to thecorrect components within the database storage 256. In someimplementations, the database storage 256 is an on-demand databasesystem shared by many different organizations as described above withreference to FIGS. 1A and 1B.

FIG. 2B shows a system diagram further illustrating examplearchitectural components of an on-demand database service environmentaccording to some implementations. The pod 244 can be used to renderservices to a user of the on-demand database service environment 200. Insome implementations, each pod includes a variety of servers or othersystems. The pod 244 includes one or more content batch servers 264,content search servers 268, query servers 282, file force servers 286,access control system (ACS) servers 280, batch servers 284, and appservers 288. The pod 244 also can include database instances 290, quickfile systems (QFS) 292, and indexers 294. In some implementations, someor all communication between the servers in the pod 244 can betransmitted via the switch 236.

In some implementations, the app servers 288 include a hardware orsoftware framework dedicated to the execution of procedures (forexample, programs, routines, scripts) for supporting the construction ofapplications provided by the on-demand database service environment 200via the pod 244. In some implementations, the hardware or softwareframework of an app server 288 is configured to execute operations ofthe services described herein, including performance of the blocks ofvarious methods or processes described herein. In some alternativeimplementations, two or more app servers 288 can be included andcooperate to perform such methods, or one or more other serversdescribed herein can be configured to perform the disclosed methods.

The content batch servers 264 can handle requests internal to the pod.Some such requests can be long-running or not tied to a particularcustomer. For example, the content batch servers 264 can handle requestsrelated to log mining, cleanup work, and maintenance tasks. The contentsearch servers 268 can provide query and indexer functions. For example,the functions provided by the content search servers 268 can allow usersto search through content stored in the on-demand database serviceenvironment. The file force servers 286 can manage requests forinformation stored in the Fileforce storage 298. The Fileforce storage298 can store information such as documents, images, and basic largeobjects (BLOBs). By managing requests for information using the fileforce servers 286, the image footprint on the database can be reduced.The query servers 282 can be used to retrieve information from one ormore file systems. For example, the query system 282 can receiverequests for information from the app servers 288 and transmitinformation queries to the NFS 296 located outside the pod.

The pod 244 can share a database instance 290 configured as amulti-tenant environment in which different organizations share accessto the same database. Additionally, services rendered by the pod 244 maycall upon various hardware or software resources. In someimplementations, the ACS servers 280 control access to data, hardwareresources, or software resources. In some implementations, the batchservers 284 process batch jobs, which are used to run tasks at specifiedtimes. For example, the batch servers 284 can transmit instructions toother servers, such as the app servers 288, to trigger the batch jobs.

In some implementations, the QFS 292 is an open source file systemavailable from Sun Microsystems® of Santa Clara, Calif. The QFS canserve as a rapid-access file system for storing and accessinginformation available within the pod 244. The QFS 292 can support somevolume management capabilities, allowing many disks to be groupedtogether into a file system. File system metadata can be kept on aseparate set of disks, which can be useful for streaming applicationswhere long disk seeks cannot be tolerated. Thus, the QFS system cancommunicate with one or more content search servers 268 or indexers 294to identify, retrieve, move, or update data stored in the network filesystems 296 or other storage systems.

In some implementations, one or more query servers 282 communicate withthe NFS 296 to retrieve or update information stored outside of the pod244. The NFS 296 can allow servers located in the pod 244 to accessinformation to access files over a network in a manner similar to howlocal storage is accessed. In some implementations, queries from thequery servers 282 are transmitted to the NFS 296 via the load balancer228, which can distribute resource requests over various resourcesavailable in the on-demand database service environment. The NFS 296also can communicate with the QFS 292 to update the information storedon the NFS 296 or to provide information to the QFS 292 for use byservers located within the pod 244.

In some implementations, the pod includes one or more database instances290. The database instance 290 can transmit information to the QFS 292.When information is transmitted to the QFS, it can be available for useby servers within the pod 244 without using an additional database call.In some implementations, database information is transmitted to theindexer 294. Indexer 294 can provide an index of information availablein the database 290 or QFS 292. The index information can be provided tofile force servers 286 or the QFS 292.

II. Enterprise Social Networking

As described above, in some implementations the database system 16includes application servers 100 ₁-100 _(N) that can implement or hostone or more applications or platforms for providing various on-demand orcloud-computing features or services described herein. In someimplementations, one or more of the application servers 100 ₁-100 _(N)implement or host an enterprise social networking platform. In someimplementations, the enterprise social networking platform enables eachtenant of the database system 16 to create, customize, build or accessan enterprise social network for use by users of the respectiveorganization (tenant).

Enterprise social networks can be implemented in various settings,including businesses, organizations and other enterprises (all of whichare used interchangeably herein). For instance, an enterprise socialnetwork can be implemented to connect users within a businesscorporation, partnership or organization, or a group of users withinsuch an enterprise. For instance, Chatter® can be used by users who areemployees in a business organization to share data, communicate, andcollaborate with each other for various enterprise-related purposes.Some of the disclosed methods, processes, devices, systems andcomputer-readable storage media described herein can be configured ordesigned for use in a multi-tenant database environment, such asdescribed above with respect to database system 16. In an exampleimplementation, each organization or a group within the organization canbe a respective tenant of the system.

In some implementations, each user of the database system 16 isassociated with a “user profile.” A user profile refers generally to acollection of data about a given user. The data can include generalinformation, such as a name, a title, a phone number, a photo, abiographical summary, or a status (for example, text describing what theuser is currently doing, thinking or expressing). The data associatedwith a user profile also can include various permissions defining theability of the user to interact with various data objects. Inimplementations in which there are multiple tenants, a user is typicallyassociated with a particular tenant (or “organization”). For example, auser could be a salesperson of an organization that is a tenant of thedatabase system 16.

A “group” generally refers to a collection of users within anorganization. In some implementations, a group can be defined as userswith the same or a similar attribute, or by membership or subscription.Groups can have various visibilities to users within an enterprisesocial network. For example, some groups can be private while others canbe public. In some implementations, to become a member within a privategroup, and to have the capability to publish and view feed items on thegroup's group feed, a user must request to be subscribed to the group(and be accepted by, for example, an administrator or owner of thegroup), be invited to subscribe to the group (and accept), or bedirectly subscribed to the group (for example, by an administrator orowner of the group). In some implementations, any user within theenterprise social network can subscribe to or follow a public group (andthus become a “member” of the public group) within the enterprise socialnetwork.

In some implementations, a “community” refers to a collection of one ormore users within an organization that is a tenant of the databasesystem 16 and one or more persons or enterprises outside of theorganization that may or may not necessarily be tenants of the databasesystem 16. For example, a community can enable users of an organizationto connect with various partners outside of the organization includingvarious third-party partners outside of the social networking system tofacilitate one or more shared goals, objectives, or activities. Forexample, such partners can include distributors, resellers andsuppliers, among other desirable partners. In some implementations,multiple communities can be created for or by an organization fordifferent purposes and for connecting or collaborating with differentpartners. In some implementations, a community also can have a communityfeed.

A “record” generally refers to a data entity, such as an instance of adata object created by a user or a group of users of the database system16. Such records can include, for example, data objects representing andmaintaining data for accounts (for example, representing a businessrelationship with another enterprise). In some implementations, eachrecord is assigned a record type, which can be identified by aRecordTypeID. Examples of account record types include: customers (forexample, users or organizations who pay the enterprise money), customersupport (for example, users or organizations who pay the enterprisemoney to support them), households (for example, organizations in abusiness-to-consumer model), partners (for example, organizations whopay the enterprise money and to whom the enterprise pays money),suppliers (for example, organizations to whom the enterprise paysmoney), and other organizations including organizations with whom nomoney is exchanged. Other examples of record types in addition toaccounts can include cases, opportunities, leads, projects, contracts,orders, pricebooks, products, solutions, reports and forecasts, amongother possibilities.

For example, an account record can be for a business partner orpotential business partner, an actual or potential customer, an actualor potential supplier, an actual or potential distributor, or a client,among other possibilities. A record such as an account can includeinformation describing an entire enterprise or subsidiary of anenterprise. As another example, a record such as an account recorditself can include a number of records. For example, a customer accountcan include opportunities, contracts, and orders. As another example, apartner record can include a project or contract that a user or group ofusers is working on with an existing partner, or a project or contractthat the user is trying to obtain with a partner. A record also caninclude various data fields and controls that are defined by thestructure or layout of the object (for example, fields of certain datatypes and purposes). A record also can have custom fields defined by auser or organization. A field can include (or include a link to) anotherrecord, thereby providing a parent-child relationship between therecords.

Records also can have various visibilities to users within an enterprisesocial network. For example, some records can be private while otherscan be public. In some implementations, to access a private record, andto have the capability to publish and view feed items on the record'srecord feed, a user must request to be subscribed to the record (and beaccepted by, for example, an administrator or owner of the record), beinvited to subscribe to the record (and accept), be directly subscribedto the record or be shared the record (for example, by an administratoror owner of the record). In some implementations, any user within theenterprise social network can subscribe to or follow a public recordwithin the enterprise social network.

In some online enterprise social networks, users also can follow oneanother by establishing “links” or “connections” with each other,sometimes referred to as “friending” one another. By establishing such alink, one user can see information generated by, generated about, orotherwise associated with another user. For instance, a first user cansee information posted by a second user to the second user's profilepage. In one example, when the first user is following the second user,the first user's news feed can receive a post from the second usersubmitted to the second user's profile feed.

In some implementations, users can access one or more enterprise networkfeeds (also referred to herein simply as “feeds”), which includepublications presented as feed items or entries in the feed. A networkfeed can be displayed in a graphical user interface (GUI) on a displaydevice such as the display of a user's computing device as describedabove. The publications can include various enterprise social networkinformation or data from various sources and can be stored in thedatabase system 16, for example, in tenant database 22. In someimplementations, feed items of information for or about a user can bepresented in a respective user feed, feed items of information for orabout a group can be presented in a respective group feed, and feeditems of information for or about a record can be presented in arespective record feed. A second user following a first user, a firstgroup, or a first record can automatically receive the feed itemsassociated with the first user, the first group or the first record fordisplay in the second user's news feed. In some implementations, a userfeed also can display feed items from the group feeds of the groups therespective user subscribes to, as well as feed items from the recordfeeds of the records the respective user subscribes to.

The term “feed item” (or feed element) refers to an item of information,which can be viewable in a feed. Feed items can include publicationssuch as messages (for example, user-generated textual posts orcomments), files (for example, documents, audio data, image data, videodata or other data), and “feed-tracked” updates associated with a user,a group or a record (feed-tracked updates are described in greaterdetail below). A feed item, and a feed in general, can includecombinations of messages, files and feed-tracked updates. Documents andother files can be included in, linked with, or attached to a post orcomment. For example, a post can include textual statements incombination with a document. The feed items can be organized inchronological order or another suitable or desirable order (which can becustomizable by a user) when the associated feed is displayed in agraphical user interface (GUI), for instance, on the user's computingdevice.

Messages such as posts can include alpha-numeric or othercharacter-based user inputs such as words, phrases, statements,questions, emotional expressions, or symbols. In some implementations, acomment can be made on any feed item. In some implementations, commentsare organized as a list explicitly tied to a particular feed item suchas a feed-tracked update, post, or status update. In someimplementations, comments may not be listed in the first layer (in ahierarchal sense) of feed items, but listed as a second layer branchingfrom a particular first layer feed item (such as a feed-tracked update,post, or status update). In some implementations, a “like” or “dislike”also can be submitted in response to a particular post, comment or otherpublication.

A “feed-tracked update,” also referred to herein as a “feed update,” isanother type of publication that may be presented as a feed item andgenerally refers to data representing an event. A feed-tracked updatecan include text generated by the database system in response to theevent, to be provided as one or more feed items for possible inclusionin one or more feeds. In one implementation, the data can initially bestored by the database system in, for example, tenant database 22, andsubsequently used by the database system to create text for describingthe event. Both the data and the text can be a feed-tracked update, asused herein. In some implementations, an event can be an update of arecord and can be triggered by a specific action by a user. Whichactions trigger an event can be configurable. Which events havefeed-tracked updates created and which feed updates are sent to whichusers also can be configurable. Messages and feed updates can be storedas a field or child object of a record. For example, the feed can bestored as a child object of the record.

As described above, a network feed can be specific to an individual userof an online social network. For instance, a user news feed (or “userfeed”) generally refers to an aggregation of feed items generated for aparticular user, and in some implementations, is viewable only to therespective user on a home page of the user. In some implementations auser profile feed (also referred to as a “user feed”) is another type ofuser feed that refers to an aggregation of feed items generated by orfor a particular user, and in some implementations, is viewable only bythe respective user and other users following the user on a profile pageof the user. As a more specific example, the feed items in a userprofile feed can include posts and comments that other users make aboutor send to the particular user, and status updates made by theparticular user. As another example, the feed items in a user profilefeed can include posts made by the particular user and feed-trackedupdates initiated based on actions of the particular user.

As is also described above, a network feed can be specific to a group ofenterprise users of an online enterprise social network. For instance, agroup news feed (or “group feed”) generally refers to an aggregation offeed items generated for or about a particular group of users of thedatabase system 16 and can be viewable by users following or subscribedto the group on a profile page of the group. For example, such feeditems can include posts made by members of the group or feed-trackedupdates about changes to the respective group (or changes to documentsor other files shared with the group). Members of the group can view andpost to a group feed in accordance with a permissions configuration forthe feed and the group. Publications in a group context can includedocuments, posts, or comments. In some implementations, the group feedalso includes publications and other feed items that are about the groupas a whole, the group's purpose, the group's description, a status ofthe group, and group records and other objects stored in associationwith the group. Threads of publications including updates and messages,such as posts, comments, likes, etc., can define conversations andchange over time. The following of a group allows a user to collaboratewith other users in the group, for example, on a record or on documentsor other files (which may be associated with a record).

As is also described above, a network feed can be specific to a recordin an online enterprise social network. For instance, a record news feed(or “record feed”) generally refers to an aggregation of feed itemsabout a particular record in the database system 16 and can be viewableby users subscribed to the record on a profile page of the record. Forexample, such feed items can include posts made by users about therecord or feed-tracked updates about changes to the respective record(or changes to documents or other files associated with the record).Subscribers to the record can view and post to a record feed inaccordance with a permissions configuration for the feed and the record.Publications in a record context also can include documents, posts, orcomments. In some implementations, the record feed also includespublications and other feed items that are about the record as a whole,the record's purpose, the record's description, and other records orother objects stored in association with the record. Threads ofpublications including updates and messages, such as posts, comments,likes, etc., can define conversations and change over time. Thefollowing of a record allows a user to track the progress of that recordand collaborate with other users subscribing to the record, for example,on the record or on documents or other files associated with the record.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a web interface 300 for a group pageincluding a group feed for interacting with members of the group in anenterprise social network according to some implementations. Forexample, the database system 16 can generate the interface 300 andtransmit it to a user's computer (for example, as an HTML structureddocument) over one or more networks for rendering by a web browser orother rendering engine executing within the user's computer. Theinterface 300 can include multiple primary tabs for accessing variousinformation or data. The primary tabs include a Groups tab 302 that,when “clicked” or otherwise selected by a user (as is the case in FIG.3), opens a page displaying various information or UI elements for agroup (or groups) in a section or area below the primary tabs.

The primary tabs of the interface 300 can be customizable by a user orby an administrator for the user's organization. For example, theprimary tabs of the interface also can include a Home tab that opens theuser's home page, a Chatter® tab that displays Chatter®-relatedinformation includes a personal news feed, a Profile tab that opens theuser's profile page, a Files tab that opens a page displaying variousinformation or UI elements associated with the file records the userowns or is subscribed to. Other primary tabs can include a Leads tab, anAccounts tab, an Opportunities tab, a Reports tab, a Dashboard tab, anda Contacts tab (in some implementations, the contacts are third-partycontacts that are not registered users of the enterprise socialnetwork). Depending on which of the primary tabs described above isselected, the interface 300 can include one or more sub-tabs, buttons,links or other UI elements that can be selected to facilitatecollaboration or the completion of a workflow.

As just described, the Groups tab 302 is selected in FIG. 3. In theillustrated example, the interface 300 displays a group page for thegroup “XYZ Competitive Group.” The interface 300 includes a group feed304 for the group in a section below the primary tabs. The interface 300includes a publication window 306 at a top portion of the group feed 304that enables the user to submit a publication to the group feed. In theillustrated example implementation, the user can select a format orcontext for the publication by selecting the “Post” sub-tab 308, the“Link” sub-tab 310, the “File” sub-tab 312, a “New Event” sub-tab 314 orthe “Question” sub-tab 316 or a “More” sub-tab 318. The arrangement ofthe publication window 306 and the number and function of various UIelements displayed in the publication window 306 can be tailored to aspecific type of publication depending on which of the sub-tabs isselected to facilitate the publication. For example, the Post sub-tab308 (selected in the illustrated example) enables the user to entercontent in the form of text in the publication window 306. The user canalso elect to reference other users, groups or records by, for example,@-mentioning such users, groups or records. The user can submit(publish) the publication by selecting a “Share” button 320. As anotherexample, the Link sub-tab 310 enables the user to publish a link such asa URL or other address to the feed (note that this instance of the term“link” is not to be used interchangeably with the terms “subscription,”“association,” or “following” or other derivations or conjugations ofthese terms as described above). As another example, the File sub-tab312 enables a user to publish a file to the feed as well as to entertext describing the file or otherwise relating to the file. As anotherexample, the New Event sub-tab 314 enables the user to share an eventinvitation or to describe an event. As another example, the Questionsub-tab 316 enables a user to publish a question. In someimplementations, a published question can be distinguished from a normalpost by the manner the question is displayed in a feed item or by themanner in which other users are notified of its publication.Furthermore, the More sub-tab 320 can allow a user to perform or causeother actions. For example, upon a user selecting the More sub-tab 320,a drop-down menu or pick list can be displayed below providing the userwith selectable options or actions the user can choose.

As shown, the group feed 304 includes feed items published by otherusers. For example, the group feed 304 includes a first feed item 322that includes a file and a related description published by the user“Bill Bauer.” As shown, the user viewing the group feed 304 can selectto comment on the publication, like the publication or share thepublication via Comment, Like and Share buttons or links 324, 326, and328, respectively. For example, when the user selects the Comment link324, a comment window can be displayed in the feed item 322 in an areabelow the original publication. In some implementations, after the userviewing the group feed 304 has selected to “like” the publication viathe Like link 326, the Like link can be transformed to an “Unlike” linkenabling the user to unlike the publication. In some implementations,after a user selects the Share link 328, a pop-up window can bedisplayed enabling the user to select other users, groups or records forwhich to share the feed item 322. Also shown in the group feed is asecond feed item 330 that includes a post published by the user “ParkerHarris.” As shown, other users, including Ella Johnson, James Saxon,Mary Moore and Bill Bauer have submitted comments 332, 334, 336 and 338,respectively, on the publication submitted by Parker Harris. In someimplementations, the user viewing the group feed 304 can like theindividual comments via Like links 340 or comment on individual commentsvia comment fields 342.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a web interface 400 for a record pageincluding a record feed for interacting with followers of the record inan enterprise social network according to some implementations. TheOpportunities tab 402 is selected in FIG. 4. In the illustrated example,the interface 400 displays an opportunity page (a type of record page)for the opportunity “Opportunity-123K.” The interface 400 includes arecord feed 404 for the opportunity in a section below the primary tabs.The interface 400 includes a publication window 406 at a top portion ofthe record feed 404 that enables the user to submit a publication to therecord feed. In the illustrated example implementation, the user canselect a format or context for the publication by selecting a Postsub-tab 408, a Link sub-tab 410, a File sub-tab 412, a New Event sub-tab414, a Question sub-tab 416 or a More sub-tab 418. As described abovewith reference to the group feed 404 of FIG. 4, the arrangement of thepublication window 406 and the number and function of various UIelements displayed in the publication window 406 can be tailored to aspecific type of publication depending on which of the sub-tabs isselected to facilitate the publication. In the illustrated example, theFile sub-tab 412 is selected. The user can select a file to include inthe publication via elements 420 or 422. The user also can add adescription of the file or other information about the file in a bodyfield 424. The user can also elect to reference other users, groups orrecords by, for example, @-mentioning such users, groups or records. Theuser can submit (publish) the publication by selecting a “Share” button426.

As shown, the record feed 404 includes feed items published by otherusers. For example, the record feed 404 includes a number of feed items428, 430, 432 and 434. Similar to the group feed 304 shown and describedwith reference to FIG. 3, the user viewing the record feed 404 canselect to comment on the publications, like the publications or sharethe publications via Comment, Like and Share buttons or links 436, 438,and 440, respectively. As also described above, the user viewing therecord feed 404 can like the individual comments via Like links 442 orcomment on individual comments via comment fields 444.

III. Enterprise Social Networking Architecture

In some implementations, data is stored in database system 16, includingtenant database 22, in the form of “entity objects” (also referred toherein simply as “entities”). In some implementations, entities arecategorized into “Records objects” and “Collaboration objects.” In somesuch implementations, the Records object includes all records in theenterprise social network. Each record can be considered a sub-object ofthe overarching Records object. In some implementations, Collaborationobjects include, for example, a “Users object,” a “Groups object,” a“Group-User relationship object,” a “Record-User relationship object”and a “Feed Items object.”

In some implementations, the Users object is a data structure that canbe represented or conceptualized as a “Users Table” that associatesusers to information about or pertaining to the respective usersincluding, for example, metadata about the users. In someimplementations, the Users Table includes all of the users within anorganization. In some other implementations, there can be a Users Tablefor each division, department, team or other sub-organization within anorganization. In implementations in which the organization is a tenantof a multi-tenant enterprise social network platform, the Users Tablecan include all of the users within all of the organizations that aretenants of the multi-tenant enterprise social network platform. In someimplementations, each user can be identified by a user identifier(“UserID”) that is unique at least within the user's respectiveorganization. In some such implementations, each organization also has aunique organization identifier (“OrgID”).

In some such implementations, each row of the Users Table represents aunique user. Each row can include an OrgID in a first column, a useridentifier UserID in a second column, and various information about theuser in one or more additional columns. For example, a third column caninclude an identification of a user type (for example, a standard useror a portal user), a fourth column can include the user's actual name orscreen name, a fifth column can include the user's email address, and asixth column can include a password. In some alternativeimplementations, these or additional columns can include otherinformation about or pertaining to the users.

In some implementations, the Groups object is a data structure that canbe represented or conceptualized as a “Groups Table” that associatesgroups to information about or pertaining to the respective groupsincluding, for example, metadata about the groups. In someimplementations, the Groups Table includes all of the groups within theorganization. In some other implementations, there can be a Groups Tablefor each division, department, team or other sub-organization within anorganization. In implementations in which the organization is a tenantof a multi-tenant enterprise social network platform, the Groups Tablecan include all of the groups within all of the organizations that aretenants of the multitenant enterprise social network platform. In someimplementations, each group can be identified by a group identifier(“GroupID”) that is unique at least within the respective organization.

In some such implementations, each row of the Groups Table represents aunique group. Each row can include an OrgID in a first column, a GroupIDin a second column, and various information about the group in one ormore additional columns. For example, a third column can include a grouptype (for example, an identification of whether the group is public orprivate), a fourth column can include a name or title of the group, afifth column can include a UserID associated with the owner of the group(for example, the user that created the group), a sixth column caninclude information about the group (for example, a short description ofa membership characteristic such as a purpose, objective or otherrelating quality of the members), and a seventh column can include adescription of the group (for example, a longer description of thegroup's purpose or objective and membership characteristics). In someimplementations, the information or description can include clickable orotherwise selectable textual or other user interface (UI) elements (forexample, hyperlinks) that direct the user to the respective pageassociated with the selected element. In some alternativeimplementations, these or additional columns can include otherinformation about or pertaining to the groups.

In some implementations, communities are stored as specialized groupswithin the Groups Table. In some other implementations, communities arestored in a separate Communities Table and have unique CommunityIDs.

In some implementations, the database system 16 includes a “Group-Userrelationship object.” The Group-User relationship object is a datastructure that can be represented or conceptualized as a “Group-UserTable” that associates groups to users subscribed to the respectivegroups. In some implementations, the Group-User Table includes all ofthe groups within the organization. In some other implementations, therecan be a Group-User Table for each division, department, team or othersub-organization within an organization. In implementations in which theorganization is a tenant of a multi-tenant enterprise social networkplatform, the Group-User Table can include all of the groups within allof the organizations that are tenants of the multitenant enterprisesocial network platform.

In some such implementations, each row of the Group-User Tablerepresents a defined relationship, association, link or subscription(all of which are used interchangeably herein where appropriate) betweena particular group and users subscribed to the group. Each row caninclude an OrgID in a first column, a GroupID in a second column, and atleast one UserID in one or more third columns. Thus, each row defines asubscription relationship in which a user identified by a UserID in thethird column is subscribed to the group identified by the GroupID in thesecond column, and in which the group identified by the GroupID in thesecond column is within the organization identified by the OrgID in thefirst column of the same row. In some alternative implementations,additional columns can include other information about or pertaining tothe subscriptions between the users and groups.

In some implementations, the Records object is a data structure that canbe represented or conceptualized as a “Records Table” that associatesrecords to information about or pertaining to the respective recordsincluding, for example, metadata about the records. In someimplementations, the Records Table includes all of the records withinthe organization. In some other implementations, there can be a RecordsTable for each division, department, team or other sub-organizationwithin an organization. In implementations in which the organization isa tenant of a multi-tenant enterprise social network platform, theRecords Table can include all of the records within all of theorganizations that are tenants of the multitenant enterprise socialnetwork platform. In some implementations, each record can be identifiedby a record identifier (“RecordID”) that is unique at least within therespective organization.

In some such implementations, each row of the Records Table represents aunique record. Each row can include an OrgID in a first column, aRecordID in a second column, and various information about the record inone or more additional columns. For example, a third column can includea record type, a fourth column can include a name or title of the recordand a fifth column can include the owner or creator of the record. Insome alternative implementations, these or additional columns caninclude other information about or pertaining to the records.

In some implementations, the database system 16 includes a “Record-Userrelationship object.” The Record-User relationship object is a datastructure that can be represented or conceptualized as a “Record-UserTable” that associates records to users subscribed to the respectiverecords. In some implementations, the Record-User Table includes all ofthe records within the organization. In some other implementations,there can be a Record-User Table for each division, department, team orother sub-organization within an organization. In implementations inwhich the organization is a tenant of a multi-tenant enterprise socialnetwork platform, the Record-User Table can include all of the recordswithin all of the organizations that are tenants of the multitenantenterprise social network platform.

In some such implementations, each row of the Record-User Tablerepresents a subscription between a particular record and userssubscribed to the record. Each row can include an OrgID in a firstcolumn, a RecordID in a second column, and at least one UserID in one ormore third columns. Thus, each row defines a subscription relationshipin which a user identified by a UserID in the third column is subscribedto the record identified by the RecordID in the second column, and inwhich the record identified by the RecordID in the second column iswithin the organization identified by the OrgID in the first column ofthe same row. In some alternative implementations, additional columnscan include other information about or pertaining to the subscriptionsbetween the users and records.

In some implementations, the database system 16 includes a “Feed Itemsobject.” The Feed items object is a data structure that can berepresented or conceptualized as a “Feed Items Table” that associatesusers, records and groups to posts, comments, files or otherpublications to be displayed as feed items in the respective user feeds,record feeds and group feeds, respectively. In some implementations, theFeed Items Table includes all of the feed items within the organization.In some other implementations, there can be a Feed Items Table for eachdivision, department, team or other sub-organization within anorganization. In implementations in which the organization is a tenantof a multi-tenant enterprise social network platform, the Feed ItemsTable can include all of the feed items within all of the organizationsthat are tenants of the multitenant enterprise social network platform.

In some such implementations, each row of the Feed Items Tablerepresents a defined relationship or link between a particular feed itemand an associated user, record or group. Each row can include an OrgIDin a first column, a FeedltemID in a second column, a UserID of thepublishing user or owner of the feed item (for example, the user thatsubmitted the publication associated with the feed item) in a thirdcolumn, and a feed item body in a fourth column. That is, in someimplementations, each row is associated with a particular feed item andthe particular feed item is uniquely identified by the respectiveFeedltemID. The feed item body can include the content to be displayedin or with the feed item when displayed in a network feed. For example,the content in the feed item body can include the text of a publicationsubmitted by the publishing user. The content in the feed item body alsocan include identifiers, links or addresses to separately storeddocuments, videos, images or other files or other publications to bedisplayed with the feed as part of the feed item. For example, in someimplementations, the links to the files are displayed in the firsthierarchical level of the feed item or a second hierarchical level ofthe feed item. In some other implementations, the files themselves (or apreview of the files) are displayed as part of the feed item.

In some implementations, other columns can include UserIDs, GroupIDs orRecordIDs of associated users, groups and records that have been@-mentioned by the publishing user as part of the publication. In someimplementations, a ParentID can be specified in another column. TheParentID can include, for example, the UserID, RecordID or Group IDcorresponding to the user feed, record feed or group feed where thepublication was submitted. Another column can include a timestampassociated with a time the publication was submitted. Other columns caninclude text or links associated with feed-tracked updates to the feeditem. Other columns can include the UserIDs of users that have “liked”the post, file or other publication in the feed item. Other columns caninclude the UserIDs of users that have shared the publication in thefeed item.

Other columns of the Feed Items Table can include CommentIDs identifyingcomments submitted on the publication and to be subsequently includedin, for example, a second hierarchical level within the associated feeditem when displayed in a network feed. In some such implementations, thedatabase system 16 includes a “Comment Items object.” The Comment Itemsobject is a data structure that can be represented or conceptualized asa “Comment Items Table” that associates comments to associated feeditems to which the comments were submitted (or “published”). In someimplementations, the Comment Items Table includes all of the commentsmade by users within the organization. In some other implementations,there can be a Comment Items Table for each division, department, teamor other sub-organization within an organization. In implementations inwhich the organization is a tenant of a multi-tenant enterprise socialnetwork platform, the Comment Items Table can include all of thecomments within all of the organizations that are tenants of themultitenant enterprise social network platform.

In some such implementations, each row of the Comment Items Tablerepresents a defined relationship or link between a particular commentand an associated feed item to which the comment was published. Each rowcan include an OrgID in a first column, a CommentID in a second column,a FeedItemID in a third column, a UserID of the publishing user thatsubmitted the comment in a fourth column, and a Comment body in a fourthcolumn. That is, in some implementations, each row is associated with aparticular comment and the particular comment is uniquely identified bythe respective CommentID. The comment item body can include the contentto be displayed in or with the feed item when displayed in a networkfeed. For example, the content in the comment item body can include thetext of a comment submitted by a publishing user. The content in thefeed item body also can include links or addresses to separately storedfiles to be included in the comment when displayed in a network feed.For example, in some implementations, the links to the files aredisplayed in the comment, while in some other implementations, the filesthemselves (or a preview of the files) are displayed as part of thecomment. In some implementations, other columns can include UserIDs,GroupIDs or RecordIDs of associated users, groups and records that havebeen @-mentioned by the published user in the comment.

Enterprise social network news feeds are different from typicalconsumer-facing social network news feeds (for example, FACEBOOK®) inmany ways, including in the way they prioritize information. Inconsumer-facing social networks, the focus is generally on helping thesocial network users find information that they are personallyinterested in. But in enterprise social networks, it can, in someinstances, applications, or implementations, be desirable from anenterprise's perspective to only distribute relevant enterprise-relatedinformation to users and to limit the distribution of irrelevantinformation. In some implementations, relevant enterprise-relatedinformation refers to information that would be predicted or expected tobenefit the enterprise by virtue of the recipients knowing theinformation, such as an update to a database record maintained by or onbehalf of the enterprise. Thus, the meaning of relevance differssignificantly in the context of a consumer-facing social network ascompared with an employee-facing or organization member-facingenterprise social network.

In some implementations, when data such as posts or comments from one ormore enterprise users are submitted to a network feed for a particularuser, group, record or other object within an online enterprise socialnetwork, an email notification or other type of network communicationmay be transmitted to all users following the respective user, group,record or object in addition to the inclusion of the data as a feed itemin one or more user, group, record or other feeds. In some onlineenterprise social networks, the occurrence of such a notification islimited to the first instance of a published input, which may form partof a larger conversation. For instance, a notification may betransmitted for an initial post, but not for comments on the post. Insome other implementations, a separate notification is transmitted foreach such publication, such as a comment on a post.

IV. Interest Groups Based on Network Feed Items

Various implementations relate generally to creating an interest groupbased on a network feed item. Some implementations more specificallyrelate to creating an interest group based on published content in afeed item and based on interactions with the feed item by other users.As described above, when a user submits a publication to a network feed,such as a user feed, group feed or record feed, the publication isstored by the database system 16 as a feed item. The publication caninclude user-entered textual content, and in some implementations, anassociated file. After the publication is submitted to a feed, otherusers subscribing or having access to that feed may share thepublication, comment on the publication, like the publication, orotherwise interact with or express an interest in the publication. Invarious implementations, the publishing user can create a dynamicinterest group (also referred to herein more simply as an “interestgroup”) pertaining to the feed item, and more specifically, to thecontent of the publication for which the feed item was created. Forexample, in some implementations the publishing user can create theinterest group by clicking or otherwise selecting a graphical UI elementsuch as a virtual button or link displayed within or in proximity to thefeed item that contains the publication.

In some implementations, the database system 16 automatically subscribesthe publishing user and other interested users to the interest group. Insome implementations, the database system 16 identifies the interestedusers by determining which users commented on the publication or onother comments within the feed item, which users liked the publicationor comments within the feed item, and which users shared the feed itemto other feeds associated with other users, groups or records. In someimplementations, the database system 16 also identifies as interestedusers those users who have been referenced in the feed item or otherwisetargeted to receive the corresponding publication. For example, thedatabase system 16 can identify as interested users those users who havebeen @-mentioned in the publication or in submitted comments within thefeed item. The publishing user and the users who shared the publication,commented on the publication, liked the publication or who werereferenced in the publication all can be characterized as having aninterest in the publication, and as such, also are collectively referredto herein as “interested users.”

FIG. 5 shows a flow chart illustrating a process 500 for creating aninterest group according to some implementations. In block 502, a usersubmits a publication to a network feed. Generally, the publishing usercan submit the publication in block 502 to any feed the publishing userhas access to (for example, a user feed, a group feed, a record feed, acommunity feed or other type of network feed). However, the publishinguser may be selective in choosing which feed or feeds to which to submitthe publication. For example, the publishing user may desire to submitthe publication to a feed associated with a user, group, community orrecord having subscribers that may be expected or hoped to have aninterest in the publication.

The publishing user can submit the publication via a publication windowof a network feed. For example, the publishing user can submit thepublication in a publication window of a group feed or record feed, suchas the publication windows 306 and 406 for the group or record feeds 304or 404, respectively, shown and described above with reference to FIGS.3 and 4.

In some other implementations, the publishing user can elect to submitthe publication via the publishing user's own personal user news feed.FIG. 6 shows an example of a web interface 600 for a user page includinga user feed for interacting with other users of an enterprise socialnetwork according to some implementations. The interface 600 includes asection 602 in which the user can select various information to view inthe interface 600. For example, the user can select a “Feed” button ortab 604 to view a user feed 606, a “People” button 608 to view otherusers the user follows or who follow the user, a “Groups” button 610 toview Groups the user is a member of, a “Files” button 612 to view filesthe user has created, edited, used or otherwise has access to. In theillustrated example, the Feed button 604 is selected resulting in thedisplay of the user feed 606. When the Feed button 604 is selected, apicklist 614 of various filters can be displayed below the Feed button604 enabling the user to filter the feed items to be displayed in theuser feed 606. For example, the user can select a “What I Follow” filter616 (currently selected in the illustrated example) to view feed itemsassociated with other users, groups and records the user subscribes to.The user also can select other filters such as a “To Me” filter to viewfeed items shared with or otherwise targeted to the user, a “Bookmarked”filter to view feed items that the user has selected to bookmark, and an“All Company” filter to view all of the feed items for the entireorganization.

The interface 600 also includes a publication window 620. As describedwith reference to the group and record feeds 304 and 404 shown in FIGS.3 and 4, respectively, the publishing user (“Smith K” in the illustratedexample) can select a format or context for the publication by selectinga Post sub-tab 622, a File sub-tab 624, a New Event sub-tab 626, or aQuestion sub-tab 628. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the publishinguser has selected the Question sub-tab 628. In this example, when theQuestion sub-tab 628 is selected, the publication window 620 includes asubject field 630 in which the publishing user can enter a subject ofthe question to be published, and a body field 632 in which thepublishing user can enter the question and related information. Forexample, the publishing user can enter information such as a problem theuser is encountering, a tool in which the problem is encountered,attempts to solve the problem, and the results of such attempts. In theillustrated implementation, the publication window 620 also includes apicklist or other UI element or field 634 in which the publishing usercan select the recipients of the publication. In this example, thepublishing user has selected “My Followers” to distribute the questionto the users that follow the publishing user. Alternatively, thepublishing user can, in some implementations, use the picklist 634 toselect one or more groups, records or individual users to receive thepublication in the respective group feeds, record feeds or personal userfeeds. As described above, the user also can publish the question (orany publication) directly on one or more group feeds, record feeds orother users' feeds by navigating to the respective feeds. Thepublication window 620 also includes an “Ask” button 636 that, whenclicked or otherwise selected, submits the publication.

The submission of a publication (whether it is a post, a file, a newevent, a link or a question) triggers the database system 16 to storethe publication as a feed item in block 504. For example, the databasesystem 16 can store the publication as a feed item in a Feed Items Tableas described above. In some implementations, the database system 16assigns the feed item a FeedltemID and stores the FeedltemID along withthe content of the publication (for example, the subject and body of thequestion in the example of FIG. 6, the content of a post in the exampleof FIG. 3, or an identifier of a file and related user-entered contentin the example of FIG. 4). As described above, the database system 16also stores the UserID of the publishing user and a ParentID (forexample, a UserID, GroupID or RecordID) corresponding to the respectivefeed to which the publication was submitted in the Feed Items Table. Thedatabase system 16 also stores the UserIDs, GroupIDs and RecordIDs ofother users, groups or records @-mentioned in the publication. In someimplementations, such as that described with reference to FIG. 6, thedatabase system 16 also stores the UserIDs, GroupIDs or RecordIDs of thespecified targets of the publication, for example, as determined by theselection made in the picklist 634.

Subsequently, when any subscribers of a network feed to which the feeditem was published or shared access the network feed, the databasesystem 16 includes the feed item for display in the feed. In someimplementations, the database system 16 also includes the feed item inthe personal news feeds of these subscribers. Additionally, when anyother users specifically targeted by, for example, the selection made inthe picklist 634 access their personal news feeds, the database system16 includes the feed item in these personal news feeds. For example, inthe implementation of FIG. 6, all followers of the publishing user wouldview the feed item in their own respective personal news feeds.

In block 506, other users viewing the feed item interact with the feeditem. While described as a single block, block 506 can span virtuallyany duration of time (for example, seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks,or longer). As described above, interested users may interact with andexpress interest in the feed item by commenting on the publication,commenting on comments already made on the publication, liking thepublication or comments, or sharing the feed item. In some instances,interested users also may reference other users by @-mentioning theother users in their own comments.

FIG. 7 shows an example feed item 700 in an example network feedaccording to some implementations. For example, the feed item 700 can bethe feed item as it is displayed to the publishing user or to otherusers after multiple other interested users have interacted with thefeed item in block 506. As shown, the feed item 700 includes theoriginal publication 702 submitted by the publishing user 701. Forexample, in the example feed item 700 of FIG. 7, the publication 702includes a post identifying a new tool—an “Auto Gack Watcher Tool.” Thepublication 702 includes user-entered textual content describing abackground of the motivation for the tool—the problem of labor intensive“Gack watching.” The publication 702 also includes the purpose andfunction of the tool, and how it can facilitate a stage in a workflowassociated with a product release. The feed item 700 also includesmultiple comments 704 submitted by the publishing user and otherinterested users, likes 706 submitted by the publishing user or otherinterested users, and @-mentions 708 of various other users, groups andrecords.

As shown in the example implementation of FIG. 7, the feed item 700 alsoincludes an additional “Create Dynamic Interest Group” button, link orother UI element 710 for creating an interest group based on the feeditem. The “Create Dynamic Interest Group” button 710 can be locatedwithin or in proximity to the feed item. For example, the button 710 canbe displayed below the publication 702 next to the Comment, Like andShare links 712, 714 and 716, respectively. In some implementations, the“Create Dynamic Interest Group” button 710 is visible in the feed itemonly when the feed item is accessed by the publishing user. In some suchimplementations, only the publishing user who submitted the originalpublication for which the feed item was created has the capability tocreate an interest group based on the feed item. In some otherimplementations, the button 710 is visible in the feed item when thefeed item is accessed by the publishing user or by any other user whohas interacted with the feed item, for example, by commenting, liking orsharing, or by any user who has been @-mentioned or otherwise referencedin any portion of the feed item. In some such implementations, any ofthese users is able to create an interest group based on the feed item.In some other implementations, the button 710 is visible to any userhaving access to the feed item, and any of such users can create aninterest group based on the feed item.

In block 508, the publishing user (or another interested user having thecapability to create an interest group) clicks or otherwise selects the“Create Dynamic Interest Group” button 710. In some instances, thepublishing user or another interested user may select to create theinterest group after such user determines that sufficient interest inthe publication has been demonstrated; for example, after a suitable ordesirable number of interested users have commented on the publicationor on other comments, liked the publication or comments, or shared thefeed item. In one example use case in which the publication pertains toa problem the publishing user is encountering (for example, referred toas a “gack”), the publishing user can select to create the interestgroup after a solution to the problem has been determined, and morespecifically, after a solution has been published in a comment, after asolution has been linked, referenced or otherwise identified in acomment, after a number of unsuccessful attempts have been tried, orafter another user has been identified that can solve the problem (forexample, via an @-mention in a comment published to the feed item.

When trigged by the selection of the button 710 in block 508, thedatabase system 16 creates the interest group in block 510. In someimplementations, the database system 16 assigns the new interest group aunique GroupID and stores the GroupID and related information asdescribed above in the Groups Table. In some implementations, the GroupsTable can include another column that specifies a group type todistinguish among different types of groups, for example, betweeninterest groups and normal groups. For example, the database system 16can store the new interest group in the Groups Table as a group of type“interest,” to indicate that the new interest group is an interestgroup. In some other implementations, the database system 16 stores datafor the new interest group in a different “Interest Groups Table”separate from the normal Groups Table described above. In some suchimplementations, the Interest Groups Table is similar to the GroupsTable described above but stores data only for interest groups. In suchimplementations, the interest group is assigned a uniqueInterestGroupID. In some implementations, the database system 16 storesthe UserID of the publishing user as the owner of the interest group inthe Groups Table or Interest Groups Table in which the interest group isstored. In some other implementations, the database system 16 stores theUserID of the user who created the interest group as the owner of theinterest group.

In some implementations, the database system 16 stores the entirecontent of original publication as the name of the interest group. Insome other implementations in which the publishing user specifies asubject of the publication (such as in the example user feed shown anddescribed with reference to FIG. 6), the database system 16 can storethe subject of the publication as the name of the interest group. Insome other implementations, the database system 16 can identify one ormore topics of the publication and store some combination of topics asthe name of the interest group, for example, a unique combination oftopics that distinguish the interest group from the combinations oftopics associated with other interest groups. Additionally, in someimplementations, the owner of the interest group can edit or refine thename after the interest group is created.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a web interface 800 for an interest grouppage including a group feed for interacting with members of the interestgroup according to some implementations. For example, the interface 800displays a group page for the interest group created based on the feeditem 700 of FIG. 7. In the illustrated example, the name of the interestgroup is “Auto Gack Watcher Tool,” the name specified in the first line(or subject) of the publication 702 for which the feed item and interestgroup were created. As shown, the feed item 700 is included anddisplayed with the group feed 706 of the interest group along with thecomments 704 submitted to the feed item 700. The interface 800 alsoshows the creator of the interest group (in this example, the publishinguser) in a section 708, a short description of the interest group in asection 810, the members of the group in a section 812, the topcontributors to the group feed 706 in a section 814, activityinformation in a section 816 and a list (in this example, in the form ofhyperlinks) of topics associated with the interest group.

The database system also adds, in block 512, the GroupID orInterestGroupID assigned to the interest group to the Feed Items Tableto associate the interest group to the feed item for which the interestgroup was created.

In block 514, the database system 16 identifies interested users tosubscribe to the newly created interest group. As described above, insome implementations, the database system 16 identifies the interestedusers by determining which users commented on the publication or onother comments within the feed item, which users liked the publicationor comments within the feed item, which users shared the feed item, andwhich users have been @-mentioned in the publication or in commentswithin the feed item. More specifically, the database system 16 candetermine the interested users by accessing the feed item in the FeedItems Table and identifying the UserIDs of users who shared or liked thecorresponding publication and the UserIDs of users who were @-mentionedin the publication. The database system 16 also can identify theCommentIDs of comments submitted to the feed item and subsequentlyaccess the Comment Items Table to identify the UserIDs of the users whosubmitted the comments as well as the UserIDs of users who liked thecorresponding comments and the UserIDs of users who were @-mentioned inthe comments. In some implementations, if an entire group is @-mentionedin a publication or comment, the database system 16 identifies theGroupID associated with the @-mentioned group and, using the GroupsTable described above, identifies the UserIDs of the subscribers to the@-mentioned group as interested users.

In some implementations, in block 516, the database system 16automatically subscribes the interested users identified in block 514 tothe interest group. As described above, in some implementations,subscribing the interested users to the interest group in block 516includes associating the UserIDs of the interested users to the GroupIDor InterestGroupID of the interest group in the Group-User Table, or insome other implementations, to the InterestGroupID in a separate“Interest Group-User Table” (similar to the Group-User Table describedabove but only including subscriptions between users and interestgroups). In some implementations, the now-subscribed users are thennotified in block 518 that they have been subscribed to the interestgroup, for example, via a daily digest or by a subscription notificationin their respective personal news feed. In some implementations, thenotification can provide context to the subscribed users indicating whythey were subscribed to the interest group. For example, thenotification can indicate to the subscribed user that he or she wassubscribed based on the user's comment to the publication for which thefeed item and interest group were created, based on the user's commentto a previously submitted comment to the feed item, based on the user'sliking the publication or a comment within the feed item, based on theuser's sharing of the publication or feed item in general, or based onbeing @-mentioned or otherwise referenced in the feed item.

The now-subscribed interested users will now receive the feed item andany future updates (such as additional comments) to the feed item intheir respective user news feeds. Additionally, when the subscribedusers view the interest group's feed, the previously submitted feed itemassociated with the publishing user's original publication, as well asthe comments, likes or other interactions with the feed item, will beincluded and displayed in the interest group's feed. Furthermore, thesubscribed users will now receive feed items for new publications andassociated updates submitted to the interest group's feed.

In some other implementations, the database system 16 does notautomatically subscribe the interested users to the interest group. Forexample, in some such implementations, the database system 16 provides anotification including an invitation, suggestion or recommendation toeach of the identified interested users in lieu of automaticallysubscribing the interested users in block 516. For example, thenotification can include a selectable link to accept an invitation tosubscribe to the interest group or a selectable link to view the homepage of the interest group where the user can then select to subscribeto the interest group.

In some implementations, a user that was automatically subscribed to theinterest group in block 516 or who accepted an invitation to join theinterest group can elect to unsubscribe from the interest group or electnot to receive feed items or feed item updates when the user is nolonger interested in the interest group.

In some implementations, the database system 16 automatically archivesor deletes interest groups after a period of inactivity with respect tothe interest group. For example, the Groups Table or Interest GroupsTable in which the interest group is stored can include a column thatindicates a status of the group. For example, an interest group can havean active status or an archived (or inactive) status. In someimplementations, the database system 16 archives the interest groupafter the database system 16 determines that there has been no activitywith respect to the interest group (for example, no posts or commentssubmitted) for a predefined duration of time. For example, in someimplementations the predefined duration of time can be a number ofweeks, one month, two months, three months or another reasonable orappropriate duration of time. In some implementations, archived interestgroups are not deleted. In some such implementations, the databasesystem 16 continues to store the archived interest groups; however, thedatabase system 16 does not show the archived interest groups in thelist of groups shown to users subscribed to the archived interest group.In some implementations, the database system 16 unsubscribes the userssubscribed to the inactive interest group when it is archived. In someother implementations, the database system 16 deletes the inactiveinterest group from the Groups Table or Interest Groups Table in whichthe interest group is stored after the database system 16 determinesthat there has been no activity with respect to the interest group for apredefined duration of time. In some implementations, an administratorcan configure the predefined duration of time as well as configurewhether the inactive interest group should be archived or deleted afterthe predefined duration of time has elapsed. In some otherimplementations, an inactive interest group can be archived after afirst predefined duration of time has elapsed and deleted after a secondlonger predefined duration of time has elapsed.

In some implementations, the database system 16 also identifies at leastone topic for each interest group. For example, the database system 16can identify one or more topics for the interest group created in theprocess 500 of FIG. 5 at any suitable stage of the process 500. Forexample, in some implementations, the database system 16 attempts toidentify topics of the publication as the publishing user is enteringtext in a publication window. In some such implementations, the databasesystem can utilize various asynchronous techniques, such as JavaScript,AJAX, or other techniques to send and retrieve data to and from theuser's computing device to identify topics and to suggest interestgroups as described below.

In some implementations, each interest group can be associated withmultiple topics, and vice versa. For example, the topics associated withthe interest group can be shown in the Topics sections 818. For example,it may be desirable for the database system 16 to identify a minimumnumber of topics to associate with the interest group such that theinterest group can be distinguished from other interest groups by aunique combination of topics. In some implementations, each topic can beidentified in a Topics Table or index within the database system 16 by aunique TopicID. In some implementations, the database system 16 canassociate one or more topics to an interest group by storing theTopicIDs for the topics with the interest group's InterestGroupID in theInterest Groups Table described above. In some implementations, thetopics can be key words, key terms or phrases automatically identifiedby database system 16 from entered text, for example, using aserver-side process that performs key word searching or contentrecognition on entered text submitted as publications or comments infeed items. In some implementations, the Topics Table can alreadyinclude an index of preciously entered topics identified by the databasesystem 16 or entered by administrators or other users of the databasesystem. In some implementations, the names of various records or groupsalso can serve as topics in the Topics Table. In some implementations,the names of various tools, products, services, clients or customers aswell as version numbers, or error codes also can be included as topicsin the Topics Table. In some implementations, after an interest group iscreated, the owner of the interest group also can manually add topics tobe associated with the interest group. Additionally, when comments aresubmitted to the feed item or when additional publications and feeditems are added to the feed of the interest group, the database system16 can search these to identify additional topics to be associated withthe interest group.

In some implementations, a user may be entering text in a publicationwindow to be submitted as a publication. In some implementations, as theuser enters text in the publication window, the database system 16 canidentify topics in the entered text, attempt to match the combination oftopics to at least one previously created interest group associated withone or more of the same or similar topics, and suggest one or more ofthe identified interest groups to the user. FIG. 9 shows a flow chartillustrating a process 900 for suggesting an interest group according tosome implementations. In some implementations, the process 900 begins inblock 902 as a user enters text in a publication window. In someimplementations, the entered textual characters are sent to the databasesystem 16 asynchronously in block 902.

FIG. 10 shows an example of a web interface 1000 for a user pageincluding a user feed for interacting with other users of an enterprisesocial network according to some implementations. In the example of FIG.10, a user is entering text in the form of a question in a publicationwindow 620. The publishing user has selected “My Followers” in thepicklist 634. The user has entered “Facing problems with Gacks” in asubject field 630. In this example, as the publishing user is enteringthe text “I am trying to watch Gacks on Production Env, but I seeproblem of” in the body field 632, the entered textual characters aresent to the database system 16 asynchronously.

In some implementations, the database system 16 receives the enteredcharacters asynchronously in block 904. As the database system 16receives the textual characters, the database system 16 uses a text orother content recognition process to identify and parse, in block 906,the entered textual characters as such characters are entered, includingtext entered in a subject field (when present). In block 908, thedatabase system 16 identifies topic candidates based on the text. Insome implementations, the database system 16 compares the identifiedtopic candidates with topics in the Topics Table to identify, in block910, existing topics based on the topic candidates. The database system16 also identifies the TopicIDs of the identified topics in block 910.

In some implementations, the database system 16 then searches theInterest Groups Table in block 912 to find Interest Groups withassociated TopicIDs that match the identified TopicIDs. In block 914,the database system 16 identifies one or more of the most relevantmatching dynamic interest groups based on, for example, the quality orquantity of matching topics. In some implementations, some of the topicscan be weighted differently when determining the most relevant of thematching interest groups. For example, the topics in the Topics Tablecan be categorized into primary topics and secondary topics. In somesuch implementations, primary topics are weighted more heavily thansecondary topics when identifying the most relevant matching interestgroups. For example, primary topics can include the names of groups,records, tools, or products or topics specifically identified and addedto the Topics Table by administrators or other users, while secondarytopics can include topics automatically determined by the databasesystem 16 based on content submitted in publications. For example, suchsecondary topics can include terms or phrases entered by users for whichno other existing topics matched.

In block 916, the database system 16 communicates the suggested interestgroups to the user's computing device. In some implementations, field,pop-up window or picklist is displayed within or in proximity to thepublication window that includes the names of the one, two, three, fouror five (or more) most relevant interest groups based on the publishinguser's currently entered text. For example, referring to the interface1000 of FIG. 10, a field titled “Dynamic Interest Group Suggestions” isdisplayed in a section 1038. Within the section 1038, the suggestedinterest group is displayed—in this example, the “Auto Gack Watcher ToolGroup” shown and described with reference to FIGS. 5-8.

In some implementations, the suggested interest groups are ordered byway of descending relevancy; for example, the interest group determinedto be most relevant is positioned first. In some implementations, thenumber of suggested interest groups displayed can vary based on athreshold relevance as determined by, for example, a minimum number ofmatching TopicIDs. In some implementations, an administrator canconfigure the threshold relevance as well as a maximum and minimumnumber of interest groups to be suggested to the user. In some otherimplementations, an administrator can configure the field 1038, pop-upwindow or picklist such that the a fixed number of the most relevantinterest groups is displayed.

In some implementations, after one or more suggested interest groups aredisplayed to the publishing user, if the user continues to enter text,the database system 16 can repeat the steps of the process 900 to refinethe list of suggested interest groups based on the additional enteredtext.

In some implementations, the suggested interested groups are displayedin the form of selectable hyperlinks. Upon selection of a hyperlinkedinterest group, the database system 16 can then provide the homepage ornews feed of the corresponding interest group for display to the user.In this way, the user can search the interest group's homepage, andespecially the news feed, for information relevant to the user'sintended publication. For example, in the case in which the user isentering text about a problem the user is encountering, the user cansearch the interest group and corresponding feed for the solution to theproblem or for ideas in solving the problem. The user also can elect tosubscribe to the interest group from the group's page.

In some implementations, when a user hovers over a link to one of thesuggest interest groups, for example a link in the field 1038, thedatabase system 16 can display (for example, in a pop-up window)information about the suggested interest group, for example, anidentification of the problem to which the dynamic interest grouppertains, an identification of the tool in which the problem wasencountered, among other potentially desirable information. In someimplementations, the pop-up window or other UI element in which theinterest group is displayed also can include a link or other UI elementthat, when clicked or otherwise selected, subscribes the user to theinterest group. In some implementations, after selecting to subscribe tothe dynamic interest group, the user is directed to the group's homepage without additional input by the user.

In some implementations, if the user who has selected to navigate to asuggested interest group's page does not find the interest group helpfulor relevant, the user can select a “back” button or other button toreturn to the feed and publication window in which the user was firstentering text. In some such implementations, the user can select adifferent suggested interest group or proceed to finish and submit thepublication to whatever feed the user had originally intended. In suchimplementations, the process 500 described above can be repeated.

Referring back to the process 500, in some other implementations, inaddition to identifying interested users based on the feed item afterthe selection to create an interest group based on the feed item, thedatabase system 16 also can search other group, record or user feedsassociated with respective groups, records or other users to which thepublishing user subscribes. The database system 16 also can determinewhether the publishing user also submitted a publication pertaining tothe same topics to these other feeds. When the database systemdetermines that one or more of the other feeds also includes apublication submitted by the publishing user for the same or similartopics, the database system 16 can identify additional interested usersbased on the associated feed items in these other feeds, andsubsequently subscribe these additional interested users to the interestgroup. For example, such a scenario may occur when the publishing usersubmits the same publication to multiple groups the user subscribes to.In such a scenario, it may be advantageous to combine the interestedusers identified from the various groups and subscribe them to the sameinterest group to facilitate collaboration.

In some other implementations, this process of finding additional feeditems and associated interested users also can be extended to feed itemssubmitted by other users different than the user who submitted the feeditem from which the interest group was created.

In some implementations, in scenarios in two (or more) interest groupshave been created for the same or a similar idea, such as a particularproblem, the owner of either group can select to merge the two interestgroups. For example, this scenario may arise when a problem to which thefirst interest group pertains is related to a problem to which thesecond interest group pertains, for example, a problem that is a subsetof the problem to which the second interest group pertains, or viceversa. In some such instances, while the database system 16 may havesuggested the first interest group to the publishing user associatedwith the second interest group, the publishing user associated with thesecond group may have elected to not follow the suggestion to view orsubscribe to the first interest group, and instead, selected to submit apublication from which the second interest group subsequently created.

Lastly, in some implementations, when another user not subscribed to anarchived interest group is in the process of entering text for apublication sharing one or more of the same topics to which the archivedinterest group pertains, the database system 16 can still suggest thearchived interest group to the user. In some implementations, if theuser selects to subscribe to the archived interest group, the databasesystem 16 can update the status of the formerly archived interest groupto active. In this way, the database system 16 does not need to create anew interest group for the same or a similar combination of topics.

The specific details of the specific aspects of implementationsdisclosed herein may be combined in any suitable manner withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the disclosed implementations.However, other implementations may be directed to specificimplementations relating to each individual aspect, or specificcombinations of these individual aspects. Additionally, while thedisclosed examples are often described herein with reference to animplementation in which an on-demand database service environment isimplemented in a system having an application server providing a frontend for an on-demand database service capable of supporting multipletenants, the present implementations are not limited to multi-tenantdatabases or deployment on application servers. Implementations may bepracticed using other database architectures, i.e., ORACLE®, DB2® by IBMand the like without departing from the scope of the implementationsclaimed.

It should also be understood that some of the disclosed implementationscan be embodied in the form of various types of hardware, software,firmware, or combinations thereof, including in the form of controllogic, and using such hardware or software in a modular or integratedmanner. Other ways or methods are possible using hardware and acombination of hardware and software. Additionally, any of the softwarecomponents or functions described in this application can be implementedas software code to be executed by one or more processors using anysuitable computer language such as, for example, Java, C++ or Perlusing, for example, existing or object-oriented techniques. The softwarecode can be stored as a computer- or processor-executable instructionsor commands on a physical non-transitory computer-readable medium.Examples of suitable media include random access memory (RAM), read onlymemory (ROM), magnetic media such as a hard-drive or a floppy disk, oran optical medium such as a compact disk (CD) or DVD (digital versatiledisk), flash memory, and the like, or any combination of such storage ortransmission devices. Computer-readable media encoded with thesoftware/program code may be packaged with a compatible device orprovided separately from other devices (for example, via Internetdownload). Any such computer-readable medium may reside on or within asingle computing device or an entire computer system, and may be amongother computer-readable media within a system or network. A computersystem, or other computing device, may include a monitor, printer, orother suitable display for providing any of the results mentioned hereinto a user.

While some implementations have been described herein, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example only, and notlimitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present applicationshould not be limited by any of the implementations described herein,but should be defined only in accordance with the following andlater-submitted claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. An enterprise social networking database systemcomprising one or more feeds, the database system configurable to cause:obtaining first input data from a first device of a first user of theenterprise social networking database system, the first data obtainedfrom a sharing element displayed in a user interface on a display of thefirst device, the sharing element associated with the one or more feeds;identifying a plurality of characteristics of the first input data, thecharacteristics comprising a referenced user in the first input data;sharing a feed item comprising the first input data in the one or morefeeds; obtaining second input data associated with the feed item from aplurality of second devices of a plurality of second users of theenterprise social networking database system; identifying one or more ofthe second users as having submitted in the second input data one ormore of: a comment on the feed item, a like of the feed item or arequest to share the feed item; sending display data to the firstdevice, the display data capable of being processed to cause display inthe user interface of a user interface element (UI element) associatedwith the feed item, the UI element being operable to cause creation of agroup of users of the enterprise social networking database system; andgenerating or updating, responsive to obtaining an indication from thefirst device of interaction with the UI element, one or more group dataobjects in a database to create the group of users in association withthe feed item, the created group of users being updateable and at leastinitially comprising the first user, the referenced user and theidentified one or more second users.
 2. The system of claim 1, whereinthe characteristics of the first input data comprise a plurality oftopic candidates based on the first input data, and the database systemis further configurable to cause: identifying a plurality of topicsidentified by one or more topic data objects in a database as matchingthe topic candidates; identifying a plurality of interest groups ofusers of the enterprise social networking database system as beingassociated with the matching topics; and sending UI data to the firstdevice, the UI data capable of being processed to cause display in theuser interface of the identified interest groups; wherein the indicationof interaction with the UI element comprises a selection of one or moreof the identified interest groups.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein theUI data indicates a ranking of the identified interest groups.
 4. Thesystem of claim 3, wherein the ranking of the identified interest groupsis based on one or more of: a count of the matching topics, weightsassigned to the matching topics or categories associated with thematching topics.
 5. The system of claim 1, the database system furtherconfigurable to cause: identifying, responsive to obtaining theindication of interaction with the UI element, one or more further feedsof the enterprise social networking system as being associated with thefirst user; identifying one or more further users of the enterprisesocial networking system as being associated with the one or morefurther feeds; and adding the one or more further users to the group ofusers.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein identifying the one or morefurther feeds as being associated with the first user comprises:determining that a message submitted by the first user has been sharedin the one or more further feeds; and determining that the message hasone or more topics in common with the first feed item.
 7. The system ofclaim 1, the database system further configurable to cause: identifyinga third user referenced in the first input data and/or in the secondinput data; and adding the third user to the group of users.
 8. Adatabase-implemented method comprising: obtaining first input data froma first device of a first user of an enterprise social networkingdatabase system, the first data obtained from a sharing elementdisplayed in a user interface on a display of the first device, thesharing element associated with one or more feeds of the enterprisesocial networking database system; identifying a plurality ofcharacteristics of the first input data, the characteristics comprisinga referenced user in the first input data; sharing a feed itemcomprising the first input data in the one or more feeds; obtainingsecond input data associated with the feed item from a plurality ofsecond devices of a plurality of second users of the enterprise socialnetworking database system; identifying one or more of the second usersas having submitted in the second input data one or more of: a commenton the feed item, a like of the feed item or a request to share the feeditem; sending display data to the first device, the display data capableof being processed to cause display in the user interface of a userinterface element (UI element) associated with the feed item, the UIelement being operable to cause creation of a group of users of theenterprise social networking database system; and generating orupdating, responsive to obtaining an indication from the first device ofinteraction with the UI element, one or more group data objects in adatabase to create the group of users in association with the feed item,the created group of users being updateable and at least initiallycomprising the first user, the referenced user and the identified one ormore second users.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the characteristicsof the first input data comprise a plurality of topic candidates basedon the first input data, and the method further comprises: identifying aplurality of topics identified by one or more topic data objects in adatabase as matching the topic candidates; identifying a plurality ofinterest groups of users of the enterprise social networking databasesystem as being associated with the matching topics; and sending UI datato the first device, the UI data capable of being processed to causedisplay in the user interface of the identified interest groups; whereinthe indication of interaction with the UI element comprises a selectionof one or more of the identified interest groups.
 10. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the UI data indicates a ranking of the identifiedinterest groups.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the ranking of theidentified interest groups is based on one or more of: a count of thematching topics, weights assigned to the matching topics or categoriesassociated with the matching topics.
 12. The method of claim 8, furthercomprising: identifying, responsive to obtaining the indication ofinteraction with the UI element, one or more further feeds of theenterprise social networking system as being associated with the firstuser; identifying one or more further users of the enterprise socialnetworking system as being associated with the one or more furtherfeeds; and adding the one or more further users to the group of users.13. The method of claim 12, wherein identifying the one or more furtherfeeds as being associated with the first user comprises: determiningthat a message submitted by the first user has been shared in the one ormore further feeds; and determining that the message has one or moretopics in common with the first feed item.
 14. A computer programproduct comprising computer-readable program code to be executed by oneor more processors when retrieved from a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium, the program code comprising instructionsconfigurable to cause: obtaining first input data from a first device ofa first user of an enterprise social networking database system, thefirst data obtained from a sharing element displayed in a user interfaceon a display of the first device, the sharing element associated withone or more feeds of the enterprise social networking database system;identifying a plurality of characteristics of the first input data, thecharacteristics comprising a referenced user in the first input data;sharing a feed item comprising the first input data in the one or morefeeds; obtaining second input data associated with the feed item from aplurality of second devices of a plurality of second users of theenterprise social networking database system; identifying one or more ofthe second users as having submitted in the second input data one ormore of: a comment on the feed item, a like of the feed item or arequest to share the feed item; sending display data to the firstdevice, the display data capable of being processed to cause display inthe user interface of a user interface element (UI element) associatedwith the feed item, the UI element being operable to cause creation of agroup of users of the enterprise social networking database system; andgenerating or updating, responsive to obtaining an indication from thefirst device of interaction with the UI element, one or more group dataobjects in a database to create the group of users in association withthe feed item, the created group of users being updateable and at leastinitially comprising the first user, the referenced user and theidentified one or more second users.
 15. The computer program product ofclaim 14, wherein the characteristics of the first input data comprise aplurality of topic candidates based on the first input data, and theinstructions are further configurable to cause: identifying a pluralityof topics identified by one or more topic data objects in a database asmatching the topic candidates; identifying a plurality of interestgroups of users of the enterprise social networking database system asbeing associated with the matching topics; and sending UI data to thefirst device, the UI data capable of being processed to cause display inthe user interface of the identified interest groups; wherein theindication of interaction with the UI element comprises a selection ofone or more of the identified interest groups.
 16. The computer programproduct of claim 15, wherein the UI data indicates a ranking of theidentified interest groups.
 17. The computer program product of claim16, wherein the ranking of the identified interest groups is based onone or more of: a count of the matching topics, weights assigned to thematching topics or categories associated with the matching topics. 18.The computer program product of claim 14, the instructions furtherconfigurable to cause: identifying, responsive to obtaining theindication of interaction with the UI element, one or more further feedsof the enterprise social networking system as being associated with thefirst user; identifying one or more further users of the enterprisesocial networking system as being associated with the one or morefurther feeds; and adding the one or more further users to the group ofusers.
 19. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein identifyingthe one or more further feeds as being associated with the first usercomprises: determining that a message submitted by the first user hasbeen shared in the one or more further feeds; and determining that themessage has one or more topics in common with the first feed item. 20.The computer program product of claim 14, the instructions furtherconfigurable to cause: identifying a third user referenced in the firstinput data and/or in the second input data; and adding the third user tothe group of users.